No. 4 Ohio State at Wisconsin
The Buckeyes tote an unscathed record to Camp Randall Stadium this weekend, flying high after punishing San Jose State, 50-7, Saturday.
In three and a half quarters of action, signal caller Craig Krenzel set career highs in both passing yards (241) and touchdowns (3).
Tailback Maurice Clarett added another eye-popping performance against the Spartans with 132 yards and 18 carries to head the Buckeyes’ offense, along with two rushing and one receiving touchdowns. Clarett broke the freshman scoring record during the game with 15 touchdowns in six games, and also leads the conference in rushing with 141.2 yards per game.
Ohio State was strong on the opposite side of the ball as well, its stingy defense held San Jose State to no rushing yards. The Buckeyes pinned their ears back in the second half, limiting the Spartans to 15 total yards.
Head coach Jim Tressel’s career record as a head coach has jumped to 149-62-2 during the season, and if all goes well Saturday, Tressel will celebrate the 150-win milestone with an unbeaten Buckeye squad.
Despite his team’s hot streak, Tressel remains cautious about the upcoming six-game stretch of conference games.
“We know we have a difficult road in front of us, but I think all of us are anxious to see how we fit in the whole picture,” Tressel said. “I do feel like we are getting better, but we will find out a lot more about ourselves this week at Wisconsin.”
The Badgers still seek a conference victory, dropping two straight after starting the season on a five-game winning streak.
Still, Wisconsin remains a formidable foe.
Badger head coach Barry Alvarez said penalties have really hurt his team, and to win against Ohio State the Badgers need to find a way to make the big plays. A big key, Alvarez added, is to prepare for Clarett.
“He can take a game over,” Alvarez said. “He’s mature enough and physical enough and has the ability as a true freshman you see where he takes games over.”
The Buckeyes lead the overall series 49-15-5 and squeaked by with a 20-17 win last year.
Dawn Klemish
No. 9 Michigan at Purdue
The Wolverines are having another great season. Currently ninth in the nation with a 5-1 mark, 2-0 in the Big Ten, U-M looks to be a team in serious contention for the Big Ten championship.
U-M won’t have the toughest of competition this weekend when they travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium, but the Big Ten is always full of surprises.
Thanks to perseverance and the power-running style of running back Chris Perry, U-M rallied to defeat then-No. 17 Penn State last weekend 27-24 in the first overtime contest in the Big House’s history.
Despite not being compared to former great U-M quarterbacks, John Navarre has continued to show poise and improve each game as the signal caller.
He threw for 244 yards against the Nittany Lions last week, completing 27-of-41 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
However, it might be hard to repeat that performance against Purdue. The Boilermakers are 3-1 at home this season. Purdue also comes into this game with anger after participating in an even wilder contest than last week’s Penn State-U-M showdown.
Purdue rallied from a 24-point deficit to take a seven point lead at Illinois last week. Then the wheels came off the wagon. The Boilermakers allowed Illinois to score a touchdown with seven seconds remaining in the game and then proceeded to lose in overtime, 38-31.
To make matters worse for the Wolverines, they have lost their last two games in West Lafayette. U-M head coach Lloyd Carr coached both of those meetings, losing in 1996 and 2000. Both games illustrate Carr’s difficulties with Purdue head coach Joe Tiller’s coaching.
“I think the thing Joe’s been able to do is have an outstanding defensive football team,” Carr said. “They do a tremendous job on offense and they also have been able to put offensive defensive teams on the field.
“They’re not just a one dimensional football team.”
Chris Mackinder
No. 16 Iowa at Indiana
Not only are the Hawkeyes continuing to be a surprise in the Big Ten, they continue to raise eyebrows across the nation with their unimaginable start.
Iowa already is bowl eligible with its six wins and looking to go 4-0 to start the conference season for the first time since 1990 - the last year they won the league title.
The Hawkeyes come into Bloomington after a 44-16 rout of MSU last weekend led by quarterback Brad Banks. He threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns in helping the offense eclipse the 30-point mark for the sixth time in seven games.
The Hoosiers haven’t had a grueling schedule but still have been on a roller coaster ride this season.
Indiana is coming off a thrilling 32-29 win over Wisconsin. Down 29-27 entering the fourth quarter, Indiana reeled off 15 unanswered points in the final frame to pick up the win. Much of the comeback can be attributed to quarterback Gibran Hamdan who threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns which earned him Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors.
But Indiana head coach Gerry DiNardo said his defense will be the tested unit this weekend.
“Iowa has been playing as well as anybody in the conference,” DiNardo said. “They have a run game that’s as good as anybody in the conference and that’s what we’re going to be focusing on.”
Chris Mackinder
Northwestern at No. 21 Penn State
Penn State celebrates its 83rd homecoming in Happy Valley with a matchup against the Wildcats.
The Nittany Lions carry a clear advantage, but the lesser cats will put up a fight as Northwestern seeks penance for last year’s duel.
In Illinois a year ago, the Wildcats dropped a 38-35 heartbreaker after allowing Penn State to score on a 4-yard pass with 22 seconds left on the clock.
“We’ve really looked hard at how we’ve played and what we have to do much better to contain a great Penn State football team,” Wildcats head coach Randy Walker said. “They have some great offensive weapons and we’ve got a big task ahead of us.”
And nobody does it better than Northwestern tailback Jason Wright and Penn State running back Larry Johnson.
Wright and Johnson top the conference in all-purpose yards with 178.6 and 175 yards per game, respectively.
Nittany Lion quarterback Zack Mills also holds bragging rights to two league categories, averaging 275.3 yards per game in total offense and 261 yards per game in passing.
Northwestern will be without the services of its starting quarterback Brett Basanez, who broke a bone in his leg on Oct. 10 against Minnesota. In the game, the Wildcats scored 21 points in the fourth quarter but could not muster a final run, falling 45-42 to the Golden Gophers.
Penn State defensive end Michael Haynes will put extra pressure on Basanez’s replacement, as he leads the conference in sacks (1.42 per game), fumbles forced (4) and tackles for loss (1.75 per game for 84 total yards).
Nittany Lion head coach Joe Paterno said he is impressed with his team’s defensive effort, especially considering its makeup.
“We’re fairly young defensively except for our down guys,” Paterno said. “We lost three guys in the secondary for the year who would have been first-stringers.
“We’re playing against very, very talented teams. We’ve played well against the run, we’re definitely hanging in there.”
Dawn Klemish
